Valentino Rossi has moved to the top of the MotoGP standings after winning the Spanish Grand Prix today.

Rossi overtook Dani Pedrosa with 10 laps remaining to claim his first victory of the season after finishing second in his previous two races. Casey Stoner of Australia took third.

"I'm very happy about this victory after yesterday, which was a very difficult day," said Rossi, who had qualified fourth on his Yamaha.

The defending champion has 65 points after his 154th top-three finish, 11 points ahead of Stoner. Jorge Lorenzo, the previous overall leader, is equal third with Pedrosa on 41 points.

Lorenzo had started from pole position but the Spaniard was overtaken by Pedrosa on the first corner and then slid out with four laps to go as he chased Stoner.

Stoner said this race was more important than his season-opening victory at Qatar. "Every time with a MotoGP bike on this track, I've had a bad start. But today we had a good start," the Australian said. "The bike felt quite good enough but it can do better. But I'm happy for what we did on this circuit."

In the 250cc category, Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan passed Alvaro Bautista of Spain on the final corner to score his first win of the season and take the overall lead. The defending champion Marco Simoncelli of Italy took third and Hector Barbera of Spain was fourth.

Meanwhile, in the 125cc category, Bradley Smith of Britain won his first race ahead of the Spanish duo Sergio Gadea and Marc Márquez.